How was the meeting with Natalie Portman when you first told her about the project? "I was a fan of Natalie since I saw her in Leone. Luc Besson is one of my favorite directors. Manager Natalie is my old friend by college and I had a certain idea of her in advance. We met in New -Iorko for a cup of coffee, chatted about my ideas. When I started working on the project, it was very difficult, as it was not easy to penetrate the world of ballet. Usually, when you shoot a movie, it's worth saying: "Hey! I want to make a film about your world, "and almost all the doors open. But the world of ballet was completely not interested in our company. Therefore, I had a lot of time to find all the necessary information and gather it together. During this period Natalie said to me: "I get too old for the role of the dancers, stroke!". In the end, I add a script, and we began to work. "
Vensene Kassel said that you are a dear man, but he did not take anything from you for his role the powerful, arrogant and demanding director.
"I would like to be the same manipulator as the hero of Wensan. I think I am very straightforward and often scare these people. In fact, I went down the many A-class actors, and Natalie Portman - the only actress from the Hollywood elite, with which I happened to work For my whole career. Usually everyone, with whom I talked, answered like this: "Do you want me to do what?! How long?! For how much ?! ". And, as a rule, they refused to work with me, because I could not say anything intelligible. So I lost quite a lot of movie stars. I think the director would say to the ability to manipulate:" Oh, all this It just looks difficult, in fact it is not, throwing you, it will be just great. "
After the premiere at the festival in Venice Charles Fracecchi, one of the leading ballerinas in the world in Corriere della Sera said: "This is a very dangerous film for dance, for all people who have dedicated life to the study of classical dance." And after the London Festival in Sunday Times, similar concerns of the director of the London ballet were already published.
"I saw these articles and I was very sorry, because many ballet dancers reacted completely differently. I think many of them sighed with relief, knowing that there are now a ballet tape, which refers to the ballet as a serious art, and Not as a place where a love intrigue can be. I understand that there will always be people who disagree with something, but most of the dancers with whom we met, told us: "Finally, we have a real film telling us About ballet "."